Neubeschenowa / Ujbesenyo
Our Swabian ancestors were a hardy bunch. They came from The Black Forest region in Baden-Wurttemberg, Saarland, and Trier. Many immigrated to Banat, then Austria-Hungry in 1737 due to rising taxes and lack of religious freedom. During the Ottoman rule of parts Banat, there was low population density because of one hundred years of warfare in the area and it was a nearly uninhabited marsh and forest. Count Claudius Mercy (1666–1734), was appointed the governor of Banat in Temesvar in 1720, tried to the repopulate Banat. When marshes near the Danube and Tisza rivers were cleared, roads and canals were built, German artisans and other settlers were attracted to colonize the district, and agriculture and trade encouraged. Maria Theresa, Empress of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, colonized the region with large numbers of German peasants, encouraging them, even some were sent in chains by boats because of the Saltpetre war, (saltpetre mineral was the wealth of Southwest Germany.) German settlers arrived from Swabia, Alsace, and Bavaria, as well as people from Austria. Many settlements in the eastern Banat were mostly Germans. The ethnic Germans in the Banat region became known as the Danube Swabian, or Donauschwaben. Because many came by boats and rafts on the Danube River. As a result of the Swabians labor, the Banat region was transformed into a breadbasket of Europe. The village of Neubeschenowa (NB) was founded1748-1749 in Banat by German colonists. That summer, men of the village were ordered by Maria Theresa to complete a military training in case of future war. The Village church was built in 1750-1751 followed by the cemetery in 1751. The village was fully formed by 1783 with two hundred and twenty-five houses. Not unlike other villages in the Banat area, Neubeschenowa kept its language and culture throughout the generations. Marriages were among the village's residents - outsider marriages were not common. In 1895 the railroad was opened, and it was possible to take a train to the largest city, Temesvar, fifteen kilometers southeast. Things were changing politically in Banat by 1898. The Hungarian government changed the village name to a Hungarian name, Ujbesenyo, and both Hungarians and Romanians were moving into the area. The great immigration to America, Europe and Australia occurred during early the 1900s, many immigrating in 1905. Seeing how things were developing, the elders sent the younger generations to a safer land. World War I began in 1914 and when the war ended in 1918, The war claimed one hundred twenty-seven lives from Neubeschenowa. In 1919 after the war, Banat was split and Neubeschenowa was now in Romania. Between 1939 and 1945, eighty-three men from Neubeschenowa died in World War II. After the war, Romania became an Iron Curtain country of Russia. Between September 29th and Oct 10, 1944, all the people in Neubeschenowa were evacuated to a nearby town while the houses were plundered and the cattle were driven away by the Russians. Nineteen families fled to Germany. On the 14th of January 1945, Swabian men of Banat between the ages of seventeen and forty-five, and women between the ages of eighteen and thirty-two (a total of 297 people from Neubeschenowa) were rounded up by the Russians leaving small children in the care of relatives and neighbors. They were taken by train and for two weeks, (thirty to fifty people per boxcar) rode to Kharkov, Ukraine. They were to become slaves in the coal mines. Sixteen to twenty percent died on the journey. Sixty-eight died in the coal mines. But Neubeschenowa wasn’t the only village to withstand this hardship; over 75,000 Swabian throughout Banat were forced to work in 208 labor camps in Russia and the Urals. By the time they were released in 1949, 11,000 had died in Russia. The Germans of Banat were again forced into exile. On the morning of June 17, 1951, they were awakened at two o'clock in the morning and told to be ready to leave by ten o'clock am. Each family was allowed to bring with them: two horses, one cow, two hogs, five chickens, feed for the livestock, and one wagon. They were not told where they were going. Land, houses, cattle and agricultural machines were taken from 190 villages in Banat without compensation by the Romanians Armed soldiers escorted them to the railroad station, with their belongings. And In some cases, two or three families were loaded into one boxcar. Once they were loaded, they could not leave to return to their homes or visit relatives. After the families had been locked up with their livestock for nearly two days in the heat, the train finally began to roll from the station with around fifty boxcars. Heading eastward, the train passed through Temeswar, toward an unknown destination. It was very hot in the boxcars and the livestock was getting restless from thirst. After the train left Bucharest heading toward the Danube, relief showed on the captive’s faces because they were now certain that they were not going to Russia. The trains traveled a few more days and nights before they came to a stop. Over forty thousand people discovered that their new home was without any sign of civilization; without water, trees or bushes. Just thistles. It was it was Baragan Steppe, also known as the Romanian Siberia. Here sixty-two families from Neubeschenowa created a makeshift shanty- town and named it Bumbacari. They made houses from sod bricks with straw thatched roofs. They burnt the thistles for heat in the winter and survived by growing wheat and corn. The Banaters built one hundred and eighty villages on the Baragan Steppe, This was to be their home until 1956. They were released so Romania could join NATO. Romania could not join NATO while they had residents in internment. When the villagers returned to Neubeschenowa, they found that Romanians had moved into their homes. Today there are very few Germans living in what was first Neubeschenowa (German), then Ujbesenyo (Hungarian), and finally Dudestii Noi (Romanian). If you have family from Neubeschenowa. contact me at Neubeschenowa/Uibesenyo Facebook page.